Flame And they have not the Understanding of Children that having been often burnt do not dread the Smoak of such Fires 'T is not for his sake alone that such Libels are divulged but to shew their Antipathy to Monarchy itself even in the Persons of such as God by a Series of Miracles hath raised to make us a happy People And certainly there is some Fire under that Smoak where the King's Supremacy over Ecclesiastical Assemblies is exploded and Episcopal Ordination is accounted a Transgression And where King Charles the First is dealt with in Effigy as he was in Person as a Tyrant Traytor and Murtherer of whom the World was not worthy Dr. WALKER's True Modest and Faithful ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR of ' ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ Strictly Examined and Demonstrated TO BE False Impudent and Deceitful The First PART WHether the King's Portraicture were drawn by his own or another Hand as it is no Diminution of his known Virtues whereof those Meditations are but a Reflection that cannot express the Perfection of his Devout Soul and Innocent Life so neither can it be any Extenuation of their Guilt who so barbarously murther'd his Person and after so long a time do now disturb his Ashes to rob him of this precious Jewel To what end this Impotent Piece of Malice is now attempted I cannot Divine unless it be by the just Judgment of God to perpetuate their Infamy who glory in that which all the World besides themselves know to be their abominable Sin and Shame Had there been any Probability that the Regicides could have found any other Author of those Incomparable Meditations they would more industriously have pursued that Method but finding bâ— the Examination of Royston the Printer Mr. Levet testifies That Royston told him that he was imprisoned because he would not declare that the King was not the Author of that Book Dr. Holling p. 9. before several Committees that this course would destroy their Design they resolve to deal with his Book as they had done with his Person to Defame it by scandalous Reflections â—oud Calumnies and false Glosses and Misinterpretations And they found a fit Instrument to attempt their Design a Person that was a Compendium of all the Villanies and Impieties of the Age who had been a profest Enemy to Monarchy a Pleader for Divorces on Trivial Occasions and against Tithes and the Clergy which he hath left in several printed Tracts as his Portraicture this is that Infamous Milton whom the Regicides hired by the Price of three hundred Pounds to Deface that Royal Monument but all in vain for by his over-doing he hath quite undone the Design for first he takes it pro confesso that it is the King's Book and says That the King left it behind him as the best Advocate and Interpreter of his own Actions p. 3. of his Preface And says That because the King co 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ed at the Bar that his Reasons could not be heard neither he nor his Friends should have cause to find fault being met and debated with in that open Court of his own erecting But his Proceedings against this Book were like those of his Fellow-Regicides against his Person For p. 2. of his Preface He accuseth the Book as having nothing of Solidity in it being stuft with naught else but the common Grounds of Tyranny and Popery And p. 6. That the King used more running Fetches to Undermine our Liberties and put Tyranny into an Art than any British King before him Which are such palpable Falsities as the Father of Lies would not own and of which he gives the Reader a plain Confutation p. 8. in these words That they who before hated him for his high Misgovernment as he miscals it nay fought against him with display'd Banners in the Field now after the printing of his Book applaud and extol him as the Wisest and most Religious Prince that lived And the Reformer turn'd Regicide they saw the Truth of the King's Declarations made manifest and all their Slanders of the King confuted And Milton's great Objection against him for ever silenced which was That the Testimony of one Man in his own Cause affirming cannot be of any moment to bring in doubt the Authority of a Parliament denying the Allegation Which is as if the Testimony of those that had rob'd and slain an innocent Man in the face of the Sun deserved more Credit than his dying Testimony against his Murtherers and the Matter of Fact attested by more than a thousand Witnesses They saw the Mask taken off and the Rebel appear where the Reformer was represented As for that Impudent Calumny That the KING's BOOK is stuft with Grounds of POPERY 't is what his Masters durst not accuse Him of and from which the whole Course of his Life so well known to the Nation would acquit him particularly some of those private Letters of his which the Parliament publisht wherein he declared to the Queen That he differed from her in nothing but her Religion His Dispute with the Marquess of Worcester yet in print though by a partial Hand that relates it to the King's Disadvantage his constant Devotion at our Prayers and Sacrament his Solemn Protestations at York in the head of his Army at Oxford when he sealed the Truth of his Profession by receiving the Sacrament at the hands of the Archbishop of Armagh as he did also in the Cathedral of Exeter after he had defeated Essex's Army in Cornwal And which is the best Confirmation his declaring at the last instant of his Life that he died a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as it was left him from his Father the farther Proof of this would be but as some Apologies the calling that in question which was not doubted of before and raising a Suspicion of it Therefore I leave this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pursue that Sacrilegious Milton who in p. 4. relating how some Men by Polity have accomplished after Death that Revenge upon their Enemies which in Life they were not able He to this Book applies the Example of Caesar whose last Will and Testament being read to the People and what bounteous Legacies he had bequeathed them it wrought more to the avenging of his Death than all the Art he could ever use to win their Favour in his Life time Which the Royal Martyr foretold in that most Christian Sentence wherewith he closed his Book Vota dabunt quae bella negarunt The true meaning whereof his Majesty gives in the Chapter concerning the Uxbridge Treaty viz. What we could not get by our Treaties we may gain by our Prayers Out of which Flower that venemons Spider would extract Poison But the Book shines throughout with such Beams of Light as evidently display the Innocency and Piety of that incomparable Prince and the Impiety and Perfidy of his Enemies and hence it is that they so hate it But what Temptation hath prevailed with some Persons
needed to reflect more severely upon the Covenant than the King himself hath done I can therefore hardly think that Dr. Barwick would use this as an Argument that it was written by the King himself because no Friend of his would have written so favourably of it It rather seems a contrived Argument of one that would solve his own Hypothesis That Dr. Gauden wrote that Book because in the Chapter of the Covenant there are some things spoken in favour of it which best became Dr. Gauden who speaks the more favourably because he had taken it than any of the King's Friends or himself would have done That which seems most in favour of the Covenant is this That the Imposers of it were content to make it like Manna not that it came from Heaven as Manna did agreeable to every Man's palate who would swallow it they admit any Man's sences of it though divers or contrary with any Salvo's Cautions and Reservations so as they cross not their chief Design laid against the Church and me i. e. the King Now this is as sharp a Reprimand as could be conceived where the King shews how the Covenanters mocked God by Salvo's Cautions and Reservations used as Baits to draw the People into their Snares he was far enough from approving such shusting Cautions in a Solemn Covenant which was to be taken in Judgment in Truth and in Righteousness Jer. 4.2 The King adds That in such Latitudes of Sences he believes many that loved Him and the Church might take the Covenant who were not so taken by it as to act clearly against both Piety and Loyalty and that many yielded to it more to prevent imminent Violence and Ruine which in case of dental hung over their heads than for any Value of it or Devotion to it He adds That the Latitude of some general Clauses may perhaps serve somewhat to relieve them as of doing and endeavouring what lawfully they may in their Places and Callings and according to the Word of God for these carry no Man beyond those Bounds of good Conscience which are certain and fixed either to God's Laws as to the general or the Laws of the Kingdom as to the particular Exercise of Mens Duties And therefore he desires such as glory most in the Name of Covenanters to keep themselves within those lawful Bounds In all which there appears such Charity and Prudent and Pious Advice as becomes the best of Kings And therefore the mature Consideration of this Chapter is a more propable Argument that it was penned by the King rather than by Dr. Gauden or any other who could not add as the King doth I willingly forgive such Mens taking the Covenant who keep within such Bounds of Piety Law and Loyalty This Discourse which he pretends to have had with Dr. Barwick who he says was his Tutor gave him a fair Opportunity if the concealing of his Secret had been a real Trouble to him to acquaint his Tutor as he voluntarily offered to inform the Archbishop Sandcroft how much he and the World were deceived as to the Author of that Book whom he knew to be Bp. Gauden and that his handling the Covenant so gently was because he had taken the Covenant But this probable Argument might have been turned to a plain Confutation of his Fiction from what is repeated out of that Chapter which without doubt Dr. Barwick had read and considered better than to conclude that it spoke in favour of the Covenant The Doctor 's third probable Argumentis as the former his single Affirmation That Dr. Gauden told him that Bp. Duppa wrote the two Chapters concerning the Liturgy and Chaplains and his free declaring that he neither thought nor wrote of these Subjects and that as Dr. Walker says it was unlikely he should renders it very probable he spake the truth in declaring that he wrote the rest Ans That the King had great reason both to think and write of those Subjects is very obvious and as evident that Dr. Gauden had more reason to think and write of them then of several other Heads particularly that which reflects so much on his Reputation having been a Covenanter and that other of prescribing Rules to the Prince for the Government of his Kingdoms But of this I have said enough before I only add It was very improper to call the Prince his Son and the Queen his Wife c. The fourth probable Argument is That Dr. Walker met with Expressions in the Devotional Part very frequently used by Dr. Gauden in his Prayers which he never heard from any other Man and most Men in their Prayers especially have peculiar Phrases and Modes of expressing themselves And where such occur 't is a probable Evidence they proceed from him to whom they were peculiar Ans I wish the Doctor had given us some of those Phrases and Modes I have compared the Stile and several Expressions of the Doctor 's in a Treatise of his which the Reader shall find hereafter as much differing from the Phrases and Expressions in the King's Book as the Waters of Siloah which go softly from the rapid Falls of Nile which keep within no Bounds and abound with Mud and Monsters The King's Expressions are mostly in Scripture-phrase which though other Men do use yet few do apply more pertinently and affectionately and what Meditations are properly his own few Men of his Age could imitate for the Matter or Stile And Dr. Gauden is as far from it as most Writers of that Age. But to talk of peculiar Expressions c. and not to give one Instance is but to beat the Air. The fifth Argument concerning the Apophthegmata Carolina is already answered now when all these five probable Arguments are as he says joyned together and the Reader hath considered that they are only Dr. Walker's Affirmations they will rather conclude that his Knowledge was very imperfect that needed such Proofs to confirm it which as Dr. Walker acknowledgeth do more harm than good And I think that no Impartial Reader will be convinced by them for if as Dr. Walker says that believing or not believing depends upon the Clearness or Cogency of the Motives of Credibility or the Weakness and Insufficiency of them no Man will build his Belief on such a sandy Foundation And as Dr. Walker says we may suppose that House is likely to fall that is supported by such Props The Testimony which I mentioned before Dr. Charles Goodal assures me he had from Dr. Walker's own mouth March 23d 1690 and it requires a few Remarks As first where it says that the bigger part of the Book was delivered by Dr. Gauden to Mr. Simmonds Remark 1. Then Dr. Gauden and Mr. Simmonds were no such Strangers as Dr. Walker represents them when the Book was preparing for the Press and probably Mr. Simmonds well knew who the Author was and whatever Dr. Walker did Mr. Simmonds would not have consented to the publishing of it in the
Hand-writing as well as the Corrections from the beginning The Author of the Memorandum saith That he inserted it there that is in the void Leaf of a small printed Copy for the Undeceiving others in this Point Ans I should guess that the Earl was scarcely undeceived himself in this Point by the little heed and care which he took for the undeceiving of others For first It is likely says Dr. Walker that no Eye had seen it from the time of the writing of it Anne 1675 Nor did I ever hear that he declared to any other though I presumed to ask the Reverend Doctor Richard Ansley the Earl's Son and Dean of Exeter concerning it and I agree with Dr. Walker in this That if Mr. Millington had not casually opened it it might have fallen into the hands of one that either had not regarded it or would have concealed it p. 31. If the Earl had been fully convinced of the King's Relation and intended to Undeceive others as by the Memorandum it seems he intended to do what should hinder him to have made a more publick Declaration of a Truth for which he had the Authority both of the King and Duke not only to secure him but to gratifie him for publishing what they were so willing should be known And if this thing was done in the House of Lords as the Memorandum says and where so great a Concourse was and a Matter fit to be known was offered the King viz. the sight of his Father's Book wherein were the Corrections and Alterations written with the King 's own hand it 's probable it was shown to some of the Nobles who also might hear the Discourse and yet it was not spoken or dreamt of until this Memorandum was by chance opened some Years after Lastly I shall believe unless the sight of that Book convince me of the contrary that it was wholly written with his Majesty's own hand as well as the Corrections because I have the Testimonies of many competent Witnesses to induce me so to believe viz. Mr. Levet Mr. Herbert Major Huntington and that Captain who was converted by it when the King was even ready to die on his Cross Nor can I believe that the Noble Earl did write that Memorandum as we have it there are many in London can counterfeit any Man 's Writing We know how his Majesty was abused by counterfeiting his Broad-Seal but neither doth the Memorandum say That the Book was not of the King 's Writing only that the Corrections were which excludes not the other and though that particular Book were not yet one there was written wholly by the King as is irrefragably proved I desire the Reader therefore to take notice that I reflect not on the Earl's hand for which we have no Proof and because we hear not of any thing spoken or done by the Earl to Undeceive the People in that Point which if he had been willing to do he could never have a better opportunity than then when the King the Duke and as we may believe a great number of the Lords the highest Judicature of the Nation were in the House then I say was the fittest time if the Earl had been as willing to Undeceive the Nation as the King and Duke were and the fairest opportunity to do it by shewing them the Book many of the Lords then present knowing the King's Hand and not to leave it in a void Leaf of a Twelve-peny Book left undiscovered to the day of his death I may also presume that that Learned Earl who was as great a Lover of Truth as of Books having such a Book sometime how long I know not in his hands would either before or after it had been shewn to the King and Duke have compared the Print with the Copy and then if he had found any considerable Alterations he would have mentioned them in his Memorandum as the Ground of being undeceived himself and a farther Means to Undeceive the Nation And thus much for the Memorandum which I think never did Undeceive any except Dr. Walker P. 6 and 7. Dr. Walker affirms That Dr. Gauden had taken the Covenant If this be true I see no cause why he should have a Promise of the best Bishoprick in England though he might be prefered to that of Exeter for other good Services which he did after he became a Convert and wrote against the Covenant for when Dr. Reynolds that had taken the Covenant and as some say the Engagement was preferred to Norwich which is much better than Exeter and other Bishopricks were offered to others that were less deserving And p. 129. of his Anti-Baal Berith he calls God to witness that Exeter was granted him by the King's Favour and the general Desire of the City and Diocess of Exeter without any his own or others ambitious procuring or solliciting in his behalf I cannot perswade myself that if Bp. Duppa and those other great Men to whom the dispose of the Bishopricks was committed had known that Dr. Gauden bad written the King's Book would have set him below Dr. Reynolds and divers others that had done less Service if there had been no other reason for it but to engage him to Silence in so important a Secret But what if Dr. Walker do slander his Patron Dr. Gauden and it should appear that he never did take the Covenant no not in any sence I have so much Deference to the Worth of that Bishop as well as Gratitude as he was my Patron that I shall propose the Reasons why I think Dr. Walker hath injured him in this particular and if it appear to the Reader that Dr. Walker is injurious in this he will be induced to believe that he is not to be credited in his other Relation viz. That Dr. Gauden told him that he wrote the King's Book P. 275. of the Anti-Baal The same Objection was made and answered as followeth That Dr. Gauden had taken the Covenant For Dr. Gauden 's making one of the Number of his Covenanters as Mr. Crofton reckoneth without his Host. To satisfie Mr. Crofton and the Libeller's Curiosity who go by Hearsay Dr. Gauden assures the World That he never took any Oaths but those appointed by the Law no Protestation nor Engagement no League Vow or Negative Oath and for this Covenant he offered freely to some principle Authors of it his many just Scruples and Objections against it both as to its Matter and Authority He had some of their Answers under their Hands agreeable to that Sence his Charity was and is willing to interpret the meaning of the Covenant to reform not ruine Episcopacy then he declared publickly his Judgment for Bishops and Episcopacy to be such as now it is That he neither could nor ever would assent to the Covenant in any Sence but such as was in his Freedom to refuse and consistent with his former Oaths the Laws of the Land and the Preservation of Episcopal Government in its
that durst raise so evil a Report of Dr. Gauden as to the Covenant might presume to six this Phantome of his own on the Doctor That the Doctor told him that he made the K.'s Book And whether Dr. Gauden did affirm it to Dr. Walker or Dr. Walker misreported Dr. Gauden both these Testimonies are very infirm and cannot stand against the opposite Reasons and Authorities P. 32. Dr. Walker answers to four things objected by Sir W. Dugdale The most material he saith is concerning Major Huntington from whose mouth he says he will in the Faith of a Christian declare without diminution or wresting of it which he says was this p. 33. When that Book was published and so confidently reported to be the King 's then surely or I believe here something is wanting or his hand trembled these are the Papers I see him so usually take out of his Cabinet but this was but my Conjecture and I never declared it to be otherwise for I assure you I never read one Line or Word of the Papers in the King's hand and I cannot say there was one Passage in these Papers which is this printed Book for how should I never having look'd into them This Account of Major Huntington he says he faithfully relates as in the sight of God Now if Dr. Walker be proved by several Witnesses of good Credit to have reported a Relation greatly different from that which the Major gave to several Friends and Relations at several times concerning the Matter in question I suppose the agreeing Testimony of several such competent Witnesses will greatly invalidate Dr. Walker's Relation and if the Reader shall be convinced that Dr. Walker hath misreported Major Huntington's Testimony it may be a Prejudice to his Report of Dr. Gauden's Now first Dr. Walker confesseth p. 32. That he often heard Major Huntington's Testimony to be this That whilst he attended his Majesty or had the guarding of him he saw the King frequently take these Papers out of his Cabinet and sometimes read them sometimes wrote more and that when he saw the Book he declared Those Chapters in it were those very Papers he had so seen Which two Relations are contradictory Now it is very probable that what Dr Walker affirms he so often heard alledged as Major Huntington's Testimony might come to the Major's ears in his Life-time and had he disliked it would have contradicted it to such Friends as inquired the Truth of that Business whose Testimonies I shall now set down And first the Testimony of the Learned Dr. Robert Hall Son of the Famous Joseph Hall Bishop of Exeter who was Treasurer of the Church of St. Peter's Exon to whom the Major was near related by his Marriage and with whom he sojourn'd sometime at Clist-hidon the Doctor 's Benefice this Reverend Dr. Hall hath told me and others That Major Huntington waiting on his Majesty at Holmeby assured him that he had seen the King writing some of those Papers which the Major had opportunity to read and knew that such as he did then read were the same as are now printed To this of Dr. Hall I add that of Richard Duke Esq and Justice of the Peace in Devon who lately declared to me and another Judicious Divine That he heard the Major affirm the same almost in the same words And Sir Will. Courtney a Person of great Honour as I am credibly informed when this Relation was read or told to him as Dr. W. reported it was pleased immediately to say That he well knew the Major and had heard him aver the like Report as Mr. Duke and others have declared These Evidences confirm what Dr. Hollingworth relates p. 21. of his Defence That a Non-conforming Minister told him viz. That Major Huntington told him with his own mouth That he procured some Papers that made up part of this Royal Book from the hands of Fairfax the Parliament General which were taken after Nazby Fight and kept by the Lord Fairfax and that afterward the said Major presented them to the King with his own hand Dr. Hollingworth adds I spare the Man's Name for particular Reasons but if I am called to do it I will depose the Truth of his Saying so upon Oath But I hope the Testimonies now following will prevent that labour the first is that of the Reverend Mr. Will. Read Archdeacon of Barnstable in these words I do hereby Certifie That I dining with Bp. Lamphlugh at his Palace in Exon some Years since there hapning some discourse concerning K. Charles the First his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some said there was a Doubt made Whether the said King were the Author of the said Book or no I told the Company then at the Table That I had heard from several Persons of good Credit many Years ago that one Major Huntington did affirm That after Nazby Fight he took that King's Cabinet wherein several Meditations of the said Book were written with his own hand and that he afterwards delivered them into the King 's own hands which he received with very much Joy and gave him many Thanks for restoring them to him And I do farther Certifie That one Rich. Duke of Otterton in the County of Devon Esquire being then at the Bishop's Table did positively affirm That what I had reported concerning Major Huntington was true he knowing well the said Major and having heard him with his own mouth affirming to him that what I have above set down was true In witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand this 18th day of July A. D. 1692. Will. Reade Archdeacon of Barum This is confirmed by that of Mr. Cave Beck p. 27. of Dr. Hollingworth's Character of Charles the First in these words That some Years after the King's Tryal Major Huntington at Ipswich assured me That so much of his Majesty's Book as contained his Meditations before Nazby Fight was taken in the King's Cabinet and that Sir T. Fairfax delivered the said Papers unto him and ordered him to carry them to the King And the Major affirmed that he read them over before he delivered them and that they were the same for Matter and Form with those Meditations in the printed Book and that he was much affected with them and from that time became a Proselite to the Royal Cause He also told me That when he delivered them to the King his Majesty appeared very joyful and said He esteemed them more than all the Jewels he had lost in the Cabinet P. 10. of Dr. H.'s Defence he repeats this Passage That Dr. Meriton dining with Sir T. Pilkington the late Lord-Mayor he hapned to meet with Dr. Walker at that Table where Dr. Walker with his usual Confidence asserted Dr. Gauden to be the Author of the King's Book On which Dr. Meriton turned upon him with the Story of Mr. Simmonds's communicating the whole business to Dr. Gauden Upon which he was so confounded that he had nothing to say for himself which being seconded
by Mr. Marriot then Chaplain to the Lord-Mayor who heard the whole Discourse and withal the Silence that he put Dr. Walker to Dr. Hollingworth ventured to give the World an account of it in Print This saith Dr. Hollingworth p. 5. of the Character of Charles the First is so true and will upon just occasion be attested by others as well as myself that I do here in the face of the World challenge Dr. Meriton or Mr. Marriot to deny one Syllable of the Substance of it either as to the one in telling his Success in the Dispute or the other justifying it as really true In p. 11 of Dr. H.'s Defence he says That Mrs. Simmonds being askt by him How far her Husband was concerned in the King's Book And what she knew of it She answered That going into her Husband's Study she saw on the Table a Book in Writing which she knew not to be her Husband 's Writing she asked him whose it was which he turning her off with bidding her mind her own business she desisted from further Enquiry The King's Murder following quickly after she told me her Husband never joyed himself but fell sick and died the 29th of March following and throughout his whole Sickness he declared the Book was the King's Book And p. 26. Dr. Hollingworth says That Mrs. Simmonds dining some Years since at a Citizen's House who aspersed K. Charles the First he told her If she would confess the Truth that her Husband made the Book there were some hundred of Pounds at her Service She knowing her Husband's Honesty in his Death-bed Assertions scorned and told him She was not to be bribed by never so much to so great a Lie I have also an Authentick Testimony communicated to me by Dr. Charles Goodall That Dr. Walker had often waited on his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and was wont to ask his Grace Whether he desired to be informed concerning the true Author of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affirming that not the King but Dr. Gauden was the Author of it adding this as a Reason That Dr. Gauden had a Copy before it was published This only Argument he alledged to his Grace but as for all those other Assertions which are since vented in his Book Dr. Walker at no time made use of them to confirm what he had delivered Further my Lord told me That Mr. Levet the Author of the Letter printed in Restittuion to the Royal Author had often and many Years successively waited on him and entring into discourse on this matter did as often constantly aver as related in the printed Letter That he waiting on his Majesty in Prison had seen the several Sheets of the Book written with the King 's own hand and interlined by him To this I shall joyn the Testimony of another Archbishop lately sent in a Sermon preached in Dublin by the R. R. Henry Lord Bishop of Meath at the Funeral of James Margetson D. D. Archbishop of Armagh which was printed at London for Nath. Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1679. in the 28th Page of that Book the Bishop of Meath tells us the following Passage was attested by the Archbishop whose Words by all that knew him past as unquestionable viz. That the Archbish being in London after the Death of the Royal Martyr did administer the last Offices of the Church to a Gentleman on his Death-bed whose Name he mentions not but says That a dying Person told him that he had been one sometimes near in Attendance on that Sacred Martyr in his Solitude and that to him were committed by the King those Papers which he said he knew to have been written by the King 's own hand and which were after published with the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which the Bishop of Meath observed for obviating malicious Speeches detracting from that excellent Work breathing Piety and Devotion and vindicating the Sincerity of that Great Soul in all his Actings and Occurrencies therein mentioned Malice suggesting to the World that although that Work carried the King's Name yet it was not his own but composed by some of his Chaplains intending thereby to lessen his Majesty's great and excellent Parts and to render that most excellent Piece less regarded and their own Wickedness less observed By this Testimony saith the Bishop of Meath that false Assertion appears and the Royal Author of that precious Work found to be the King himself it being declared by such a Person dying and so could hope for no Advantage by it This Sermon was printed about thirteen Years since To these may be added the Testimony of the Archbishop of Armagh who was often heard to affirm That after the Fight at Nazby the King being much troubled for the loss of his Papers taken in his Cabinet commanded him to endeavour the Recovery of them which he did to the King 's great Satisfaction And that of Col. Hammond who was the King's Keeper in the Isle of Wight who attested That he saw those Papers in the King's hand heard him reading them and saw him correcting them As Dr. Perinsheiff in the Life of Charles the First p. 95. To these may be added that of Dr. Dillingham p. 22. of Dr. Holling.'s Defence That he waiting on the King after that he was seized by the Army saw and read in the King's Bed-Chamber a whole Chapter of the King's Book fresh written with his own hand in the Year 1647. Dr. Fowler 's Testimony the present Bishop of Glocester is another Confirmation p. 23. of Dr. H.'s Defence viz. That Mrs. Keightly of Albrohatch in Barking Parish in Essex gave him this Account about twenty eight Years since That she had a Servant who was made a Parliament Captain and a little before the King's death told her he had laid down his Commission and she asking him the reason he replyed That whereas he had been told that the King was a very bad Man he was now abundantly assured that he is an excellent good Man And being askt what induced him to judge so told her That he was appointed to stand every Morning at his Majesty's Bed-Chamber-door when he was a Prisoner in the Isle of Wight observing for several days that the King went into his Closet quickly after he was dressed and there stayed a considerable time and then went down into the Garden and perceiving that he left the Key in the Closet-door he adventured to go in and found that he had been penning most devout and pious Meditations and Prayers which he fell to reading till he saw the King return to the Walk that lead to his Chamber And thus the Captain did for several Mornings and read the King's Morning-works till he came to a Resolution no longer to be such a Prince's Jaybor Mrs. Keighley told me further That he gave such an account of those Meditations and Prayers that she was confident they were printed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after she came to